Obafemi Onashile, New NIQS President Unfolds Strategies To Better Position Quantity Surveyors’ Profession and Its Members

The newly inaugurated president of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS), Mr. Femi Onashile, has unfolded strategies to better position the institute and its members in readiness for exponential growth of the professional body such as compartmentalisation and cell structure to enhance greater interaction within the institute in order to reduce friction.

Onashile who became the new NIQS president at the weekend, after the two-year tenure of Mrs. Mercy Iyortyer, the first female president of the professional body since inception, promised to make the profession more attractive by enhancing income capacity of new members through new vista of income making portals for members while improving the existing income pricing structure.

Onashile who disclosed that he will grow the infrastructure, both hard and soft, of the institute as much as possible through building a new headquarters/secretariat in the Federal Capital Territory, added that he will revamp the headquarters of the institute in Lagos for economic strategic reasons such as staff rationalisation for greater efficiency as well as enhancing staff engagement policies.

The new president who will pilot the affairs of the institute for the next two years, also promised to continue with the de-centralization policies started some years back by allowing multiple and parallel operations and outing of the state chapters. He pointed out that he will equally allow greater deployment of career counselling at the state level.

Pledging to continue the advocacy strategies of the immediate past administration, Onashile said he will undertake sponsorships of some relevant public awareness activities, while engaging the media for wider publicity of what quantity surveying is all about, its impact on the public in terms of helping to save public expenditures and enhancing probity in government.

In terms of collaboration with government agencies for effective project costing, the cost expert stated that there is the need for collaboration in order to improve the recognition and deepen the involvement of cost experts in capital budgets by the Ministry of Budget and Planning at federal and state levels, insisting that beyond the Bureau of Public Procurement, there is the need for a better recognition and collaboration with governments in independent project implementation monitoring/audit.

According to him, this is a form of feedback report or mechanism that should be implemented by the Ministry of Finance at both federal and state levels as an oversight of funds utilisation by the capital project supervising ministries or MDAs.

“I believe in a collaborative effort to work together to jointly seek the reform of our construction industry for greater efficiency and better profitability,” Onashile pointed out.

[The Vanguard Newspaper]

Great Move! NIQS Embarks On Comparative Study To Eliminate Corruption in Construction Industry

Determined to curb incidents of over- inflated projects and corrupt practices in award of contracts, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) at the weekend said it has embarked on comparative study to prove relationship between the cost of projects in Nigeria and other countries.

The immediate past president of NIQS, Mrs. Mercy Iyortyer, who disclosed this at a news conference at the just- concluded 27th Annual Biennial Conference/General Meeting in Abuja, noted that the findings on the study would soon be made public.

The theme of the 2017 Biennial Conference/General Meeting was Developing the economy for sustainable growth; the construction industry as an effective stimulant.

The immediate past NIQS boss who insisted that quantity surveyors have very important role to play in eliminating corruption from award of projects in the country, however, advocated that the government should engage their services in all establishments carrying out huge project awards.

She said: “We can play a big role as quantity surveyors to minimise high cost of projects in Nigeria. We also embarked on comparative study which will show relationship between the cost of projects in Nigeria and other countries. It is still ongoing and by the time we finish, the reports will be made public.

“We have visited the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, we have worked with the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, and the whole essence of these visits, was to highlight the role that quantity surveyors can play as cost managers to provide prudent costing of projects.

“Because we know that will go a long way to fight corruption if quantity surveyors are involved because they will apply prudence to project costing.

And another advantage is that, where they are found wanting, there will always be recourse to the Board and whoever is found wanting will be penalised or sanctioned. So, that control is there and monitoring will also help quantity surveyors carry out proper prudent costing to save the country from over- inflated projects.

“We think that we have gone to those Ministries that undertake large amount of projects and we have volunteered to collaborate with them to ensure prudent costing of projects. We can play a big role as quantity surveyors to minimise high cost of projects in Nigeria,” Iyortyer stated.

Iyortyer whose tenure as first woman to become President of NIQS in its 47 years of existence, came to an end at the weekend, disclosed that the professional body during her tenure, made presentations at the Senate and House of Representatives’ public hearing on a bill for amendment on Public Procurement Act 2007 to include the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors on the Council for Public Procurement.

She also recalled that the NIQS joined the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, under her leadership, adding, “We participated in last month’s summit and contributed by recommending an enactment of a local content regime in the construction industry.
Iyortyer also called on the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, to provide actual figures of jobs lost to economic recession in the sector.

[The Vanguard Newspaper]

FACE OF THE WEEK II: Meet Our Interesting FYB of The Week, He is Ogunfe

Can I meet you?
I'm the person of Ogunfeitimi Oladapo Moyosoluwa Oluwatobiloba Babatunde Adams of the oriki "Akanni"

Your Nick name?
Ogunfe Number 1, Dapson Adams.
Most people call me OGUNFE though

What part?
Part 5

Where do you stay?
I stay both in Lagos and Ibadan

Your state of origin?
Osun state

Are you in a relationship?
Yes actually,  I'm in a relationship with Jesus Christ :)

What are your hobbies?
Movies, Music, Football, Reading (definitely not school books).

Your best food?
Actually normally my best food is whatever fills me well but for the sake of answering effectively.
Pounded Yam and Egusi

Your favourite colour?
Red

How do you feel as a final year brethren?
I feel the illusion of security and stability I got used to in OAU is almost over.
Above all "I thank God"

How has your journey been so far on OAU campus?
It has been stressful and fun thanks to Lectures, exams and my Friends

What's your best moment on campus?
Best Moment?
Definitely not one or two. There's quite a number of them to choose from.
Let me be Cliché and say "When i got into the department"
PS : You know I'm kidding

Your best spot on OAU Campus?
Reading- AUD 1
Sleeping- AUD 1
INTECU - QS Library
Data - Oven (Physics)

Your role model?
David in the Bible 'cos he's a man after God's heart

What's your most embarrassing moment on campus?
Nil

What can you say about your course of study?
It definitely has its ups and downs. Nevertheless there's no denying the fact it gives a skill if properly harnessed can take you places.

If not Quantity Surveying?
Computer Science, Aeronautic Engineering...

What's your best course so far?
QTS 401
Cos my darling Mr Kadiri did lecture quite well.

Your favourite lecturer?
Mr D. S Kadiri

Your friends?
Kpesko, Goodwill, Jon, Objohnny, Benjee, Beesorlar, Phollu_Blak, Chase and quite a number of people.

Your departmental crush?
C'mon we all know it's Omidiji Abisola Esther

What's your target after graduation?
Normally I would say "Disregard females, Acquire currency" but then the dream got bigger when i heard about the alleged Diezani 90 billion dollars loot. Now it's more "I'll like to feed Africa"

Is marriage visible to you in the next three years?
Definitely not

What are the five things you can't live without?
God's Word
Family Love
Good Music
Good Puns
Oxygen

If you had the chance to go back to part one, what are the things, you would like to correct?
I probably wouldn't change anything. Things went on just fine without them i won't be who i am today.
Not like am big or anything but then i loved my first year

What do you think the department has to improve on?
Nil

Your Philosophy of life

Vanity upon vanity, All is vanity. Do not live life pressured by how people live their's, break a few rules live life (the godly way) and be happy

Your advice to your juniors in the department?
The normal cliché thing to say is "Be good and read your books" but really there are no rules (except the Bible really)
So fail a bit, miss a few classes, discover yourself, be diligent in your goings and above all stay true to yourself

Would you like to make shout out to any one?
Shout out to all Part 5 students.

Thank you for your time
You are welcome

FACE OF THE WEEK I: Meet Our Beautiful Fresher Of The Week, Ayomide

Can I meet you?
ADEDIRAN Ayomide Zainab

Your Nick Name?
Midey

What part?
Part 1

Where do you stay?
Ijaiye, Lagos

Your state of Origin?
Oyo State

Birthday?
9th of May

Relationship status?
Single

Your best food?
Spaghetti and chicken

Your Favourite Colour?
Pink

Your hobbies?
Designing and writing

If not QS?
Geology and Mineral Science

How do you see your course of study?
Very interesting

Your friends?
Rhoda, Motunrayo, Bimbo, Olamide, Precious ,Christiana, and other peepz

Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
In a big company that is well recognized and famous social life

Would You like to say a shout out to anyone?
Shout out to Rhoda in Chem Eng,  Motunz in QTS, Olamide in FST, Precious in BCH, Odunayo in botany, my social committee members, my roommates and all QTS Students

Thank You for the time
You are welcome

Why Do Students Fail Exam? 15 Reasons That Answers That Question 'Why'

Reasons why students fail exams could be ascribed to so many reasons. However, these reasons should never be an excuse for exam failure. These reasons are just highlighted for the consciousness of students and also to charge them to work towards avoiding them.
15 reasons why students fail exams have been listed here. The first 10 reasons are Pre-examination reasons while the latter 5 are on the exam day.

Here are the top 15 reasons why students fail exam:

PRE-EXAMINATION

1. Laziness
One of the biggest reasons why students fail examination is laziness. A lecturer once said “we don’t have dumb students, but lazy students.” When a student is lazy, he finds it difficult to read, attend classes, do homework, and make researches and other things that can ensure examination success. How is it possible to successfully sit for an exam you virtually know nothing of? Exam success doesn’t work like magic, it involves hard work and diligence.

“we don’t have dumb students, but lazy students.”

2. Over-Confidence
Some students are too confident of themselves that they overlook those tiny things that count. Over-confidence could lead to under performance. Nobody said a little self-confidence in your abilities is wrong but being Over-Confident could be dangerous. Just because you have an idea in a topic does not mean you should go sit for the exam believing that reading such topic would be a waste of time. No matter how simple or small something or somebody may appear, don’t be too sure that you don’t need them. Over-confidence kills.

3. Bad Reading Habit

Most students don’t know how to read and the conditions that best suit their body system. It baffles me how students who haven’t read throughout the semester would want to cover every topic in just one week prior exam. How will that sink in?

4. Lack of Interest

One of the reasons why students fail exams is lack of interest. It would be an uphill task to pass a subject you don’t have interest in. A computer science student whose interest lays so much in photography will find it difficult to read and pass CSC101.

5. Mind-set
Many people don’t really know what the mind-set is one of the reasons why students fail exam. Everything in life lies in the mind. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right” (Henry Ford). If you have the mind-set that you will fail, no matter the effort you put in it, you will end up failing.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right” — Henry Ford

6. Too Engaged
Some students are just too engaged in one activity or the other that they have no time to figure out why they are too engaged. They have virtually joined all the organizations on campus in such a way that today’s lecture collides with rehearsal class. On returning from the rehearsal, he or she is too tired to study for tomorrow’s text — Failure starts.

7. Friends
If you keep friends who don’t mind failing, then you are not far from failing. These friends would make sure they discourage you from studying hard for exams, see to it that you join them in skipping classes and change your orientation that you can never pass. Since you can’t beat them, you join them.

8. Finance
One of the reasons why students fail exams is their financial power. Poor financial status can hinder students from buying materials that would enhance exam success. They find it hard to get good meals, resourceful materials for studying, and gadgets to make their research works and assignments easier. Paying for excursion to different educational places would also be pretty difficult. A student with very low financial power would be forced to look out for alternatives which are a distraction to their academics.

9. Bad Teachers
Bad teachers make bad students. Some lecturers are just out and out terrible. These set of teachers need to go back to school to begin learning from the scratch. Some teachers have taught their students errors and these students are suffering for it in their respective colleges and institutions. Some campus lecturers are rude, sadists and cruel to students and this has made the students to lose interest in their subjects.
If you do have a bad teacher, never tend to be a bad student aswell.

10. Procrastination
Procrastination is the thief of time, another big reason why students fail. “I will do it later! I will do it later!” You end up not doing it. “Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.” Do that reading or assignment today; do not push it till the next day.

EXAMINATION DAY

11. Lateness
Not only does late coming to the exam hall make you disorganized, it makes you feel like you have missed out on some very vital things. Imagine you having a 2hour exam by 8:00am, you arrived the exam hall by 8:45am, you have the following to do: Explain yourself to the supervisor the reasons for coming late, locate your seat, collect your question paper and answer sheet and try to put yourself in one piece. You have just wasted more minutes. Now your brain have to do two things at a time: answer the question and calm your nerves. You end up writing poorly under a very short time.

12. Incomplete Materials
Incomplete materials in the exam hall are also one of the reasons why students fail exam. A student going for a calculation based exam without a calculator or a technical drawing exam without a pencil or ruler. How will he or she pass?

13. Not Heeding Instructions:
Failure to follow instructions in an examination hall would be your own undoing. Don’t start when you are not asked to, shade properly where necessary, stop when you are asked to, read the instructions given carefully and answer according to the number of questions you are asked to answer, submit at the appropriate time and place.

14. Time Wasting
If you have 60 minutes to answer 60 questions and you spend 2 minutes on each question. Mathematically, you will only answer just 30 questions and that spells failure.

15. Exam Malpractice
Even if this looks like a shortcut to success, if you are caught in the act, your papers would be canceled and you can also end up behind bars. If you attempt cheating in an exam hall and in one way or the other, you didn’t succeed; then you won’t be able to write your papers successfully because you already cast your hope on cheating and it never worked out.

Hope you found that helpful! All we can do at this point is to wish you all the best in all your exams to come.

Credit: StudentCosmos

Meet Our FYB Personality Of The Week, Handsome Daramz.

Can we meet you?
My name is AWOYERA Damola Oluwaseun

Your Nick name?
Darmz

What part?
500L

Where do you stay?
Off Campus

Your state of origin?
Osun State

Are you in a relationship?
No

What are your hobbies?
Listening to music,watching football,Studying

Your best food?
Beans with Plaintain

Your favourite colour?
White, black and red

How do you feel as a final year brethren?
Feel blessed and honoured

How has your journey been so far on OAU campus?
Challenging and Fufilling

What's your best moment on campus?
NIL

Your best spot on campus?
NFA

Your role model?
MR ADEGBEHINGBE OLANIYI

What's your most embarrassing moment on campus?
NIL

What can you say about your course of study?
A discipline that makes You your own boss

If not Quantity Surveying, What else?
None

What's your best course so far?
QTS 401

Your favourite lecturer?
Dr Opawole

Your friends?
Livingstone, Moshood, Tubaba, Beejay

Your departmental crush?
NIL

What's your target after graduation?
Actualizing the potentials of a professional Quantity Surveyor

Is marriage visible to you in the next three years?
Nothing is impossible with God

What are the things you can't live without?
Phone, Laptop, Money, Bible

If you had the chance to go back to part one, what are the things, you would like to correct?
Nothing

What do you think the department has to improve on?
Providing a conducive Lecture theatre for QS Students

Your Philosophy about life
Believe in yourself

Your advice to your juniors at the department?
Keep moving

Would you like to make shout out to any one?
I will like to say a big shout out to Team ROYAL ESTIMATORS

Thank You for the time
You are welcome

7 Traits Of A Quantity Surveyor - A Must Read For All Quantity Surveyors

What exactly makes a great Quantity Surveyor? It’s certainly not just about the software that you use. A good Quantity Surveyor should possess a series of traits to set them apart from being average. In this post, we’ll explore seven of the most important. Traits are unique qualities or characteristics that embody and accurately differentiate you as an individual. These are your typical patterns of behaviour which encompass and influence your thoughts, temperament and emotions. The following attributes don’t exist by accident or luck; they need to be cultivated and integrated into your daily habits to ensure optimal yield. How many do you have?

1. Communicative
The profound ability to articulate yourself in a concise manner is essential for the contemporary QS. Communication between relevant parties is crucial for a successful project delivery – especially in relation to the BIM workflow where collaboration is core. Miscommunication is typically a contributing factor to an elongated project along with wasted expenditure. With CostX, customisable reports allow you to convey key insights to non-technical stakeholders; furthermore, various data visualisation functions such as Ghost view, Revision overlay and Charts can be used to aid communication efforts.

2. Critical Thinking
The true value of a QS lies not in his/her ability to rapidly add, subtract or multiply figures; far from it. The esteemed QS more so has the ability to process critical thinking into decision making at crunch time. With CostX, you can examine different cost futures combined with the imminent “What If” scenario. Additionality you’re able to rely on a comprehensive audit trail: revision logs, undo button, comparison reports, and quantity sourcing to enable a swift and reliable response to impending offsets. Being responsive is a crucial feat in acquiring and retaining clients. Your clients need to be reassured that any issues will be resolved immediately before they move into terminal stage.

3. Attentive to detail (Meticulous)
A prerequisite to becoming a QS is to have an eye for detail. Being industriously attentive to detail enhances accuracy; diminishing room for errors. With digital takeoff packages like CostX, human error is greatly reduced through the aid of features such as “live links” and “revision overlay”, however, it is you who should capitalise on the tools and not rely on them totally. Vigilant supervision of detail constitutes to the overall success of a project. This reflects strongly on you and your company image, conclusively influencing the customer experience. As they say, it takes years to build a good reputation but just seconds to destroy it.

4. Composure (Working under pressure)

Being a QS means working to meet deadlines every day. Typically, a QS won’t have the luxury of working on a single project at one time. Duty calls and you will likely be juggling multiple projects simultaneously. Having the ability to stay composed permits you to tackle your work in prime condition; ensuring tasks are completed without compromising company standards. Being composed spans out to include being able to efficiently prioritise and evaluate your tasks concurrently, show commitment at every stage of your work and ultimately gives an underlying quality of perseverance. With a comprehensive software package, this can often be all the more easier to manage.

5. Organised
Quantity Surveyors must keep up with all figures, data, and paperwork if they are to give timely recommendations. You will need to whip out information instantaneously if you want to stay on top. It is essential for a QS to organise their work so that productivity is maximized. Today, Quantity Surveyors are playing an increasingly significant part in decision-making in projects, so being organised should really be part of your modus operandi. If you are using old-school systems or not using digital takeoff at all, then you will find yourself wasting time on the trivial things. CostX come with both BIM & 2D takeoff, integrated estimating spreadsheets, customisable reports, rate libraries and much more, making it the all-in-one estimating solution. The coherency from having everything seamlessly integrated into one software package strongly helps facilitate organisation.

6. Humility
Humility is about knowing your limits, and having the poise to welcome the strengths and perspectives of the people around you. In essence, humility is an asset for self-development where converting weaknesses into strengths is alleviated. Working within such a dynamic market scape, it is vital to embrace new knowledge and technology. Yet, humility may be the most difficult trait to acquire simply because we fear it at the same time as seek it – everyone wants to be humble and not to be humbled. One of the best way to think around this is not to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less. Too often, one can become stuck on the pre-existing methods they were using as they are convinced that is the best way- but it is very important to always be open to new ways of working within your profession.

7. Team Orientated

Being a QS means not only polishing your numeracy skills, but your team building skills as well. Like any other job, teamwork delivers enhanced performance beyond the sheer sum of its members’ single contributions – also known as the synergy effect. With loads of construction documents to handle such as contract conditions, BOQs, tender schedules, subcontractor enquires and construction drawings, great teamwork facilitates the delegation of duties in accordance to individuals’ strength and weakness. This way, ones’ weaknesses can be minimized while leveraging on their strengths for improved efficiency and productivity. CostX network version allows multiple users to work on the same project simultaneously, with each persons’ computer updating automatically when a change is made. With clear delegation and teamwork, it’s the perfect way to ensure each team member can do their part and get the project finished in a record amount of time!

So how many of the above can you confidently tick off? Don’t fret if you haven’t scored full marks, traits can gradually be nurtured through determination and self-discipline. There are no proven short cuts in developing these traits, however, with the right tools such as CostX, you can start developing and rectifying your practises in aspiration to becoming a QS that is not only respected but also at the top of their game.

Even as quantity surveyors in the making, we can always develop these traits during the course of being a professional. The importance of these traits cannot be overemphasized.
And remember the earlier, the better. Try to make these become part of you. Making a great career would never be a problem.

Don't just strive to be a Quantity Surveyor, strive to a Great one.

Credits; exactal.com
              RICS.org
              Gardener.com

Compiled and Edited by; Editorial Team, NAQSS OAU